Hanoi (VNA) - The Red River Deltacivilisation, original home of the Viet people, has developed strong culturalaspects, such as Bac Ninh province’s Dong Ho folk paintings of babies and farmanimals, and Hanoi’s Hang Trong woodcuts of heroic figures, such as Tran HungDao repelling the Mongols. However, much of the skills have been lost, largelybecause younger people show less interest in the rural and historic past.

But there is one national artistic treasurewhich is on the path to restoration, Kim Hoang painting. Kim Hoang(golden-made) painting is a common name given to folk painting invented inthe second half of the 18th century and strongly developed since the 19thcentury at Kim Hoang village, Van Canh commune, in Hanoi’s suburban districtof Hoai Duc. It can be said to be a blend of both old styles.

The subjects in Kim Hoang paintings are takenfrom the plain and ordinary lives of the citizens of the Red River Delta, sothey easily win people’s hearts. Each painting has familiar sights of animalsas swell as depicting local daily life, Lunar New Year holidays and worship ofthe Kitchen Gods.

According to Sach Do Hoa CoVietnam (The Ancient Graphic Arts of Vietnam), ancient Kim Hoang villagecomprises mostly residents who migrated from the central province of Thanh Hoato the North in the early 1700s. They united the two villages of Kim Bang andHoang Bang.

Aware that the modern Hang Trong and Dong Hopaintings were mostly sold at markets in Hanoi, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and HaiDuong, and were then not favoured by farmers because of their high price, theresidents of Kim Hoang were determined to create a new style, which combinedthe techniques and fine arts of the two styles.

The Nguyen Sy and Nguyen The families werepioneers in Kim Hoang painting, which flourished in the 19th century. But aflood in 1915 inundated all the villages of ancient Phung town (now ruraldistrict of Hanoi’s Dan Phuong) to Cau Giay district, washing away printingblocks. Only a few original paintings survive, such as Phuc Man Duong (Allof Good Fortune Come to the House), Rooster and Pig. They are atthe Vietnam Fine Arts Museum.

While Kim Hoang combines the best of  twokinds of paintings, it has more delicate, detailed lines than Dong Hopaintings, and the colours are as bright as that of Hang Trong paintings.

In addition, Kim Hoang has a special folk poemwritten on the left of the painting. While Dong Ho uses paper covered withseashell powder and Hang Trong uses poonah paper, Kim Hoang is known as the"Red painting" for its use of red, pink or yellow paper.

The most noticeable trait of Kim Hoang is thatcraftsmen use only one woodblock to print the black outline onto the paper,while the rest of the colour is filled in by the craftsman, making eachpainting a unique work of art. 

What is left at Kim Hoang Village, thebirthplace of the painting, are memories of elders. Nguyen The Nhuan, 92, chiefof the Kim Hoang communal house relic managing board, said that after theflood, only a few artists were left. The tough life forced people to forget thejoy of collecting and hanging the paintings.

According to collector Nguyen Thi Thu Hoa,director of Hanoi’s private pottery and porcelain museum, and whose privatecollection has 60 Kim Hoang paintings, she is joining hands with artists NguyenDuc Hoa and Tran Nguyen Dan to restore the carvings and folk paintings.

“If we fail to revive the paintings, there willbe no traits of them left for posterity. Those who can remember them well arealready 80 and 90 years old. The last time I came back to the village, Iverified how to print the paintings and their colours. Luckily, a book byMaurice Durand, a French man, featuring many Vietnamese folk paintings, wasreprinted, and I was able to successfully restore some of them,” said Hoa.

At present, the painting style has only oneheir, artist Dao Dinh Trung, 38, who was born in Kim Hoang Village. Hoa notedhis ability with folk painting and persuaded him to help her efforts. Lately,he has invented a new style of Kim Hoang painting, using as his subject theflamboyant Nghe (kylin). 

According to Hoa, the restoration projectconsists of three parts. “What makes this painting unique is its childish butvivid brush strokes. Firstly, we will restore 50 old samples (with referenceto the document from the book Imagerie PopulaireVietnamienne by Durand reprinted in 2011),” she said.

Describing the paintings, Hoa said that thecontents of the 50 existing Kim Hoang paintings were mostly storiesof human life, with only four paintings of chickens and pigs. All of themare printed on paper with a typical red-orange background, using simple anddelicate strokes and often with three more colours: white, light green andpurple. Kim Hoang is also called the Red painting. Red is the colourof Tet (Lunar New Year).

There were various ways to print thepaintings in the past. But now they are printed with the woodblocks lying withthe engraving surface upward. The lines are printed and colours are added byhand.

Hoa designed 10 samples whose images relate tothose carved on the Kim Hoang communal house, and painter Dan has produced 10samples based on boat themes, Hanoi and Hoi An.

"Another task is finding a plot of land inthe village for our studio. The city’s culture and trade authorities have beenasked to help with finance. This year, we hope to publish 25 folk paintings asa method to reserve this unique cultural legacy,” Hoa said. - VNA